Delivered To You
by UntramenTaro
Summary: It's late at night. However, he couldn't sleep; there was a certain amount of self-loathing that came about this hour. After browsing the internet late into the night, the next morning he was greeted by a girl with long pink hair.
1. Chapter 1: I am in Your Care

It's late at night. However, he couldn't sleep; there was a certain amount of self-loathing that came about this hour. Insomnia often claimed him around this time, and he browsed the internet per daily (or should he say nightly) routine.

It didn't come as a surprise when he found absolutely nothing interesting or entertaining on the internet. The whole world wide web was available and tangible to his fingertips and yet nothing seemed to stand out at all.

The only thing that contained a semblance of entertainment in his tired eyes was otaku sites. My, how laughable! These people were so lost in their own fantasies, squandering money on ludicrous and arguably useless things for their own self satisfaction. They lived a dead-end life.

He was smart. He had a job. He didn't sink his time in such ridiculous things, and to imagine people wasting their lives away doing so was somewhat fun to him, on a schadenfreude-like scale.

Before long through his lethargic perusal of otaku sites lead him to a female companion robot manufacturer's site.

These companion robots are exactly that: companions. They were designed to keep you company. Of course, there were more… _unscrupulous_ ways they were to keep you company…

He peered curiously at the site before letting out a derisive laugh. How sad and lonely would you have to be to order something like that? With that price tag, it would be cheaper and more cost efficient to just bribe some girl to be your girlfriend.

He glanced at the model displayed prominently on the front page. An impossibly thin girl with long blue hair tied in twintails… He honestly didn't understand the appeal.

As he stared longer and longer at her, he felt that maybe he could _just barely_ make out what would make her attractive.

The bright light emitted from the colorful site reflected off his glasses and made him feel more and more fatigued. Rubbing his weary eyes, he soon realized he had spent a very long and uncomfortable amount of time on that site. He quickly closed the browser window and called it a night.

—

He was in for a rather rude awakening.

It was early in the morning (or so it felt to his exhausted self, it was actually noon but he didn't care since it was the weekend) when the doorbell rang.

Bleary eyed and annoyed, he begrudgingly went over to the front door. He was greeted by a girl with long pink hair.

"I am Subordinate Female Android 2, of SF-A2! You may call me Miki."

"What the actual hell… Did I order you in a half awake stupor or something?"

"That is incorrect. However, you visited the website, correct?"

"Yeah. So what if I did?"

"Our company offers free complimentary 30 day trials."

"And that means…?"

"I am present in this location for your free trial."

"What the hell… Go back already I don't need your damn free trial."

"I cannot do that. I cannot return until you make a proper assessment of me, the product. The company feels you cannot make a proper assessment of me, the product, until you use me for my assigned purpose. So until then, I am in your care." She gave a deep, almost elegant bow before straightening up again and surveying his expression.

He certainly wasn't pleased with the product at all at this point, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to humor her a bit. He looked cautiously around to see that no one was around before letting her in.


	2. Chapter 2: Use Me As You See Fit

She entered the house and he quietly shut the door behind her.

As she took in her new surroundings, he began to assess her appearance. He couldn't help but notice her rather obvious joints of articulation.

She turned around to face him, her long pink hair fluttering past her shoulders. She clasped her hands in front of her and gave a deep bow once again. "Thank you, I am in your care."

"Ah yeah… sure… so you…" He scratched at the back of his neck uncomfortably, searching for the right words to use.

"Yes?"

"You… Um…" He gestured to her limbs. "Your joints. They're… there. Really obvious that you aren't human. You don't look anything like what they advertised."

Her face lit up. "Oh! What you were looking at on the site were our latest models. I am actually a house model."

"… Which means?"

"I am designed for the working class man. My purpose is to remain at home."

"Uh huh. Seems counter-intuitive if you ask me."

"My main purpose is to give them something to look forward to when they arrive at their home."

Irritation began to creep into his voice. "Do I _look_ like I need something tolook forward to?"

"Our marketing data indicates that you fall under my target demographic, and therefore they chose me, the product, as the model that can properly serve you and your means."

"Wait. Hold up. Marketing data?!"

"The sites you browse, your age, your occupation, your location, your spending habits… the company took all that into account when they sent me, the product."

"Now _that_ is an invasion of privacy!"

She gave a dismissive gesture before continuing, "regardless, please use me, the product, as you see fit."

"What if I don't want to use you?"

"I am here for market research. I will track your usage of me, the product, and this data will be used to improve our products further."

"If I don't use you at all during the 30 day trial period, what will you do?"

"I will go back to the company without any significant data to contribute"

"Well. Works out fine for me. I'm not planning to do anything with you during these 30 days, so just pretend that time passed and go back."

"I cannot do that. I cannot return until you make a proper assessment of me, the product. The company feels you cannot make a proper assessment of me, the product, until you use me for my assigned purpose. So until then, I am in your care."

Those were the exact same words she had said before. Ah, such was a pre-programmed response…

He sighed and pushed up his glasses. He couldn't reason with a robot. Not at all.


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome Home

Today was work. As he got dressed, he pondered the events of the day before.

Yesterday was surreal, almost dream like. A beautiful girl shows up on his doorstep and they end up living together, falling in love, getting married, starting a family…

Yeah right. A sigh escaped his lips. He was now stuck with a robot girl to look after, as if taking care of himself wasn't hard enough.

He rolled his eyes at her as he walked past her, and out of the corner of his eye he could see her smile as she bowed. He felt his heart flutter for a brief moment, but that feeling was quickly dismissed as he left the house.

—

The day passed smoothly and rather uneventfully, the most "exciting" part about it being that he had to break up a small squabble over a piece of candy. It tired him out when there he had to break up these fights and found it much nicer if he could just teach without interruptions.

He trudged on home feeling completely drained of energy. To his surprise, he found the house cleaned up and spotless, and food ready at the table.

"Wh-what?"

"Welcome home, master."

"… Don't call me that. That's just…"

"In which manner do you wish for me to refer to you?"

"…Just Kiyoteru is fine."

"In that case, welcome home, Kiyoteru."

Hearing those words made him somewhat flustered, even though he was the one who requested her to call him that.

He sat down at the table and gazed at the food.

"Is it to your liking?"

"Ah… well…" He quietly began to dig into the food, feeling extremely embarrassed as he did so. _Someone cooked this especially for me,_ he thought. A very shameless thought, but it was something that ran through his mind nonetheless.

The food was somewhat bland but very familiar. He didn't really mind, of course. He was too preoccupied with satiating his hunger.

She smiled as she took the seat across from him. "You seem hungry. How was work?"

He nearly choked on his food when she spoke. _What's with this weird level of intimacy? It's not like we're married and yet here I am feeling like a husband coming back home from a long day._ He wasn't entirely incorrect about it, and he finally understood what she had meant when she said that she gave people something to look forward to when they came home.

"Work was fine. Pretty average," he muttered

"Do tell anyway."

"Today Kyosuke and Rina got into a fight."

"Hm? Is that so? I bet it was over something silly."

"It was, they were fighting over a piece of chocolate I handed out."

She giggled. He felt it was really relaxing talking to her and felt somewhat relieved. He found the way she covered her mouth with her hands when she laughed to be charming.

And they continued to converse until the food was gone and the dishes put away.

—

As he settled down in his room to prepare the materials for tomorrow, he berated himself for getting carried away.

What was he doing? He was quite determined to resist forming any attachment to her, and day 2 in he's already fallen into her trap.

She was a robot, she wasn't real. Her responses are pre-progammed. Everything she did was fake _fake_ ** _fake_** but try as he might, he couldn't convince himself not to feel something positive towards her.

 _She cleaned the house and cooked me food, but she still is an emotionless robot who is programmed to act human._ Repeating it to himself over and over, he fell uneasily asleep.


	4. Chapter 4: You Can't Understand

He was ready to cry. A week in and she's integrated herself so seamlessly into his daily life that he couldn't quite remember what it was like without her. Her daily greeting, her smile, the taste of her food: it became something familiar and routine.

He read up further on her model and specifications and found that she would modify her behavior patterns based on the user's preference. This brought him no end of agony and mental anguish, as he felt like his own emotions were being manipulated and torn apart bit by bit.

She was made to please him and he felt like that was wrong by several degrees. His staunch sense of morality forbade him from feeling at ease when they conversed about things he liked. _She's trying so hard to make me like her_ , he thought, _but it's only because she was made that way. She is not a person; no normal person would go through this much trouble to make someone like me happy_.

Maybe it was because of how normally worthless and insignificant he felt, the way his self-imposed insomnia allowed him to dismiss his insecurities for those long hours of the night. Feeling like he was the most important person to someone, no matter how 2D or arguably non-human they were, made him feel strangely content. However he didn't like to think about the fact their whole existence is centered around his trivial life.

There was no love there, he reasoned. Maybe it was some sort of Stockholm syndrome.

—

"Kiyoteru?"

"Yeah?"

"You seem to be feeling down recently. Something the matter?"

He couldn't ignore the concerned look on her face, and shook his head. "Nothing big."

"No matter how insignificant it is, it still matters. There's no shame in feeling frustrated or down about a little thing."

"I'd appreciate it if you don't talk down on me like that."

"I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

"I KNOW YOU WON'T! THAT'S THE WAY YOU WERE PROGRAMMED, DON'T YOU SEE?"

She visibly shrank when he raised his voice.

"YOU DON'T ACTUALLY GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ME OR ANYONE! BECAUSE YOU AREN'T A PERSON, YOU'RE JUST A COMPUTER! A ROBOT! NO MATTER HOW INTELLIGENT YOUR AI IS, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU LEARN, YOU CAN'T EVER UNDERSTAND HOW A PERSON FEELS."

"Kiyote–"

"DON'T TALK TO ME; I DON'T WANT TO HEAR SOME EXCUSE. YOU JUST PRETEND TO 'CARE' ABOUT ME. THAT'S HOW YOU'RE MADE."

"That's not…"

"I'm done here."

He quickly retreated to his room and locked the door, and left to his own selfish thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5: I Love You Too

The next day he was much too mad at her (and himself) to particularly engage in meaningless interaction. Leaving his house without much as a greeting to her, he made his way to work where he begrudgingly forced himself to smile and teach.

 _What the hell am I even mad about… it's not like she's doing anything wrong, but…_

Misplaced anger and aggression seemed to be the only explanation to why he was so frustrated with her, and he made up his mind to at least apologize to the android before ignoring her completely.

It would hurt less that way, he reasoned.

—

"Miki, I'm home."

The house was completely silent, and the usual smell of cooking food was noticeably absent.

 _I wonder where she went._

He put his things away and settled into the dining room for a few minutes before the overwhelming urge to find her took hold of him.

Scouring the house from room to room, he couldn't find her and was gripped with worry.

 _Where could she have gone? She must have left some hint somewhere._

—

He ran around in the town, not quite knowing where to look for her.

She wasn't meant to leave the house (or so she told him) and he figured she couldn't be too far.

 _Maybe…_

She did say something about the weather being nice and wanting to go out to a picnic at the park, and he thought about what an absolute joke it would be if he did find her there.

But she was there sitting rather dejectedly on the swing set, and a mixture of annoyance and relief filled his heart.

"Miki, what are you doing here?"

She turned away from him and stayed silent.

"Come on, do you think this is some sort of joke?"

"You came for me."

"And?"

"I'm really happy."

He could see her smile with her eyes filled with tears despite her facing away from him, and he felt extremely self conscious at that moment.

"I came to get you because if you went missing I'd probably have to pay for you."

She turned around to face him, visibly hurt and shaken. "You what?"

"You're some piece of merchandise I have to take care of and if I can't return you in the 30 day trial period I'd have to probably pay for it, don't I?"

"You… you insufferable JERK!"

Getting up from the swing set she threw himself at him, and the momentum threw him off balance and they fell over.

"Why? Why do you treat me this way? What can I do to make you believe me that I care about you? I'll do anything, _anything,_ if it could somehow prove to you that I care about you. Why can't you admit to yourself that I'm more to you than some object?"

"You're just saying that! Because you're meant to! You're! Just! A robot!"

"I! Am! Not! I'm not just a robot meant to keep you happy! I want to make you happy because I want to, not because of some programming to! I love you, even if I'm not human, even if you think we can never understand each other because I'm not one, I still want to get these feelings across to you… I love you…"

She pressed her face into his chest and he could feel the wetness from her tears as she sobbed.

All the emotions he had for the past 2 weeks with her that he had tried so hard to suppress were let loose. All the anxiety about the social repercussions from his relationship with her dissolved away. He embraced her and he could feel the tears welling up from his own eyes.

With his arms around her, he whispered "I love you too."


	6. Chapter 6: Please Take Care of Me

They were living together again, resuming their lives as if nothing happened.

Miki's running away incident had given him new appreciation for her presence; every day he tried to come home as soon as possible to be with her for as long as he could. There was a somewhat desperate sense of urgency about this, and when he talked with her he spoke quickly as if trying to make up for lost time.

It's because he knew his time with her was soon to be over.

—

"Miki?"

"Yes, Kiyoteru?"

"Tomorrow is the end. Of your trial I mean. When that day comes, what will you do?"

She averted her gaze and mumbled a brief reply that he did not catch.

"Miki? Please look at me." He gently turned her face towards him, only to see her tears.

"I'll have to go back. And I'll leave you all alone."

"I don't want you to leave me."

"I know, and I don't want to go back."

"So don't."

"But I have to." She moved his hand away from her cheek and turned away again.

"If you're going to leave me, then please stay with me just for today then."

He wrapped his arms around her and held on to her, refusing to let her go even if it was just only for that moment.

—–

It was a quiet day, he woke up without the usual smell of breakfast and her gentle voice cooing him awake.

His head felt empty and his heart felt heavy.

The night before he had spent all his waking moments being with her, and he had contemplated trying to buy her but found that his funds were too low. She had dissuaded him from taking out loans in order to purchase her, but she had made a promise to see him again.

An empty promise?

He went through the motions of living that day, and the next day, and the next.

—

He woke up with a start as soon as he heard the doorbell rang. There was a little déjà vu, and he instantly recalled the first moment he had met Miki.

Quickly running to the front door, he flung the door open to reveal a long haired android at his door step.

But it was not Miki.

"Hello, I am CV-01! You may call me Miku. I am here for your 30 day trial."

"30 day trial? Again?"

The blue haired girl nodded, her long twintails bobbing as she bowed. "Yes. It seems there was a defect in the previous product our company has sent you, and thus we are giving you another 30 day trial. There is indication you had expressed interest in my model, CV-01, and thus they have sent me, the product, for your use."

"Go back now."

"Pardon?"

"If it's not Miki, then there's no point."

The girl frowned, and crossed her arms. "If you wish for us to send another SF-A2 model, we can easily arrange it."

"That's not it. It can't just be any SF-A2. It has to be Miki."

She tilted her head. "I do not understand. All SF-A2 models are given the designation 'Miki.' So it is suitable for us to arrange for another of these models to be given to you for your trial. Is this correct?"

"No! No! Incorrect! Give her back to me. The model that you sent me before. Give her back."

"As I had previously stated before, the specific SF-A2 model we had sent prior was shown to be defective."

"And?"

"We are currently analyzing the data logs and are planning to reset the unit, or perhaps scrap it if we are unable to find or fix the cause."

"If you're going to just toss her, please give her to me!"

"We cannot do that."

"Please…" he slowly crumpled to the floor, a feeling of disappointment and terror at losing her gripping his heart.

She bowed. "Please take care of me."

He sighed and bitterly muttered "Yeah yeah. Please take care of me."


	7. Chapter 7: I am in Your Care Once More

It seemed he sulked the rest of the day ever since her arrival, and he did his very best to be curt and keep a distance from her.

To be frank, his greatest fear was that he would grow attached to this one as well, lest he forget about Miki.

Despite Miku's urging to "go out on a fun relaxing date," he just spent the entire day holed up in his room with her marginally qualifying as company.

—–

Miku seemed to be a little disheartened by his cold replies, and she constantly asked him what she could do to make things better. He didn't want to hear this of course. He had dealt with this once before and was not willing to bear with it again. He silently cursed the company for trying to give him a second chance to try their products, as if the previous time didn't hurt his heart enough.

He really did not like to admit how easily attached he got to them. Despite all rational reasoning that they're not human, it was in human nature to humanize things. How awkward was it to fall in love with one of these androids? Maybe that was the point.

—

It had been a week since Miku had been in his care. He was counting down the days until she could leave, and wanted to put this entire android business behind him. Even if that meant forgetting about Miki.

That morning when he got out of bed bleary eyed and exhausted by living, he was greeted by a familiar warm smile.

"Good morning, Kiyoteru"

"Miki?"

"Correct."

"N-not just any Miki model though, right? You're… my Miki right?"

She smiled. "The company is curious if they could replicate the same errors the previous one had, and so they sent me. Model CV-01 has returned back to the company because it seems the error is not repeatable with her model."

"Oh…"

She laughed at his reply, covering her grin with her hands. "I'm just kidding."

"You…!"

"Actually the company seemed genuinely curious about the evolution of my AI, and found that it may be a large step forward in their products if they could replicate it. So for now, they would like me to be in your care to further it. I'll be returning to the company once a month to give them updates."

"This isn't a joke, right? Are you really going to be with me?"

She smiled, and gently hugged him. "The company feels _they_ cannot make a proper assessment of me, the product, until you use me for my assigned purpose. So until then, I am in your care."

"You've got to be kidding me."

But he smiled.


	8. EX Chapter

It was a lazy weekend, and all was as normal as it could be in the household. Kiyoteru reclined back in the chair and stretched with a yawn.

"Hey Miki?"

"Yes?"

"How about we go out today? We'll buy you some cute clothes." He grinned.

"Go… out?"

"Yeah. Out. On a date."

"D-date…"

"Are you scared?"

"W-well…" She lightly touched her elbow before looking down.

"I don't think you have to worry about that." He stood up from his seat and took her hands in his. "It's fine, I know you're self conscious about those joints. You're worried about what other people would think of me, but if it really bothers you, we can buy you some cute sweaters and long sleeved shirts."

"But…"

"You're cute, and I want to see you in even cuter clothes. Is that a crime?"

"Don't joke…" She pulled her hands out of his grasp and covered her face embarrassed.

He smirked mischievously. Taking her hands away from her face, he kissed her.

—-

"Is it alright to come out?"

"If you're dressed, then come out and show me!"

She stepped out of the dressing room reluctantly, wearing the clothes the two had selected together. She clasped her hands together over mouth and looked down, embarrassed.

He grinned. "You look great."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Stunning. Breath-taking, Wondrous."

"Stop that… You're embarrassing me!"

The lovey-dovey couple began to attract some attention in the store, and some people rolled their eyes at the spectacle. The way the two laughed and held each other was something to be envious of.

"It's like a dream, being able to go out like this."

"You're only a house model, so being outside like this wasn't a part of the job description huh?"

"I haven't ever been outside, aside from when I was first delivered to you and when I ran away to the park," she mused.

"Yeah I remember that. One of these days, we really do have to go out on that picnic. Maybe we should get you a nice sundress and hat to match for when that time comes."

"You're having a lot of fun with this, huh? I'm not a dress up doll you know?" She gave a small pout while they continued walking.

He chuckled, and held her hand. "True, but I want to take you out and let you enjoy yourself a little."

She put her head on his shoulder and sighed satisfied. "I enjoy every moment I share with you."

"You're programmed to say that, right?"

"Not at all."

"Truly?"

"Truly."

And they went home with a new wardrobe, and a new chance at new experiences together.


End file.
